A shopkeeper who tried to con a lottery syndicate out of nearly £80,000 in winnings has been spared a jail sentence.

Imran Pervais, 26, was given a 12-month suspended sentence at Maidstone Crown court by Judge David Griffiths-Jones QC who described his offence as "opportunistic" and "mean-spirited".

He has also been ordered to do 200 hours of community work and adhere to a curfew for four months.

Pervais of Gravesend, Kent, was found guilty in March of misleading the victim, Callum Crosier, and his work syndicate into thinking they had won £10 when in fact they had scooped £79,887 after matching five balls and the bonus ball.

Mr Crosier was told by the shopkeeper that one of the 28 tickets he buys each week had won £10 - but he later realised the ticket had five matching numbers and should have won £1,000.

He went back to the shop, where Pervais told him he needed a couple of hours to search for the ticket.

Mr Crosier then double-checked the lottery results and noticed that as well as five numbers, he had matched the bonus ball and should have pocketed nearly £80,000.

The winning ticket was eventually found screwed up and hidden behind wooden plinths at the back of the shop counter.

"That the win was in excess of £50,000 would have been apparent to you as you processed the tickets, or at least that a substantial win would have been apparent to you, but you told Mr Crosier that he had won £10," Judge Griffiths-Jones said.

"No doubt planning to wait in the hope that he would be content and would accept this small sum, perhaps even be glad of it, so that when you could see that there would be no repercussions you would be able to claim the prize for yourself.

"The offence, whilst opportunistic, was, as it seems to me, especially mean-spirited.

"It was intended to deprive Mr Crosier and his syndicate of a substantial sum of money and in the process deprive them of the romantic joy which the win would have represented for them."

The judge said that the syndicate and lottery operator Camelot relied upon Pervais' "honesty and integrity" which he betrayed.

Camelot said in a statement following sentencing: "We expect each and every one of our retailers to act as an advocate for, and uphold the values of, the National Lottery.

"If a retailer falls short of what is expected of them and what they agree to as part of their signed, contractually-binding National Lottery Retailer Agreement, we have robust processes in place to deal with that.

"The success of the National Lottery is built on player trust, and today's sentence provides clear evidence that Camelot will not allow that trust to be undermined in any way."